


Entertain Thyself

by DustToDust



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:08:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24480346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DustToDust/pseuds/DustToDust
Summary: Elias is not amused.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27
Collections: Rusty Kink





	Entertain Thyself

**Author's Note:**

> Starting season 4, managed to stay unspoiled for the most part though I know some things. Not the specifics of Elias though, just the very broad outlines. But I caught sight of a [request](https://rusty-kink.dreamwidth.org/1380.html?thread=58724#cmt58724) from the kink meme about the assistants and googly eyes that I could not stop myself from filling.

It starts with Melanie. With the frustrated anger inside urging her to violence that is thwarted again and again and again. She’s teetering on the edge of madness with the want of it, only holding onto the edge of reason with her cracked nails out of sheer stubborn spite. A spite that sends her next report in with a pair of pasted googly eyes making up the zeros of the file number.

Elias is neither surprised nor amused by the childish display. The mark staining her will eventually overcome her very human fear of knowing more about her father’s death, but until then Elias knows he will have to continue to put up with the pettiness. It is easier to deal with than the hidden knives and poorly concealed poison at least. He reads the report, concise and excellent as Melanie’s professional pride always demands it to be, and has the file sent back down without taking the plastic eyes off. It's best not to acknowledge the things.

He is not too proud to admit that might have been a mistake, because it's not Melanie who picks the file back up to reshelve it.

Tim sees the file and immediately takes it up as a challenge. A new benchmark to surpass in an endless quest to be a painful irritant. Every request Elias sends down to the Archives is met with a grin bordering on a snarl as Tim reaches into a bag in his bottom desk drawer. Either replacing all zeros on the folder with them or making his own zeros to then cover up. The man even carefully sticks a larger pair of eyes on a coffee mug and defiantly drinks out of it anytime he comes close to Elias’ office.

Then Basira gets in on the joke as well. Despite not having a set job, he finds himself meeting with her more often than his own subordinates. Even though she most decidedly does not want to give anything away she is often the best gauge he has for the sleek predator that was once her partner. Elias is confident of Daisy’s leash holding but he’s also not stupid enough to not give it a tug every now and then to remind her it's there.

It’s after these nice little chats that he finds Basira’s contributions. Sometimes it’s a pen, other times it’s a book, and once it was the handle of his umbrella. It’s always unobtrusive and nowhere near where she was standing before. Easily missable if Elias hadn’t already known it was coming and specifically Watched for it so he could remove the silly things as soon as Basira left. He felt disappointed each time. It was a shame for such a level headed woman to stoop so low.

And then Martin happens.

It irks Elias that he’s a little surprised by it in the end. Not that Martin would have his own go at it. The man is the definition of childish and petty, of course something this passive aggressive would be right up his alley. No, he’d rather expected Martin to join the fray eventually after Basira had, and he’d fully expected to be irritated the most by the man’s attempts but this... This was not something he had expected.

The eyes crunch and pop under his shoes as he walks into his office. It’s almost blinding under the glare of the sun slanting in through his windows, reflecting off the white eyes that cover every possible surface. His desk, the chair, the ceiling. All of it hidden under a layer of tacky circular eyes with black dots that jump when he jostles something. Cheap things that’ve fallen off here and there showing him hints of the room underneath. A handful rattle when he sits down, falling from the underside of the chair and Elias knows this was not a one man job. They were all in on this one to some extent or the other, but the mastermind is definitely Martin.

Tim didn’t bother coming in to work and is still asleep in his own flat. Basira occupies her normal area and is steadily working her way through yet another pile of books which she occasionally exchanges with Melanie. Martin-

Martin is organizing an out of order file at his own desk. A cup of steaming tea beside him. Not his first going by the tired look on his face that does nothing to detract from the slight grin that overtakes it each time he shifts and his feet bump against an unopened box hidden under the desk filled with even more eyes. Their deployment a hazy plan in Martin’s flighty mind that isn’t as important as getting that file reordered in time to bring in to Jon with his second morning tea.

Elias lets out an aggravated growl and allows himself to feel fully annoyed for a moment before locking up all signs of the emotion and calling for the janitorial staff to be sent in. He then goes to the closest shelf and begins to ponder what statement he’s going to make Martin read next. There’s a rather delightful account of necrotizing fasciitis spreading in a boarding school, or perhaps the lovely tale of the young boy disappearing into his closet as reported by his less than grieving mother.

He almost settles on both but decides to hold one back just in case. There is, after all, the matter of that unopened box of eyes to consider.


End file.
